Good Taste In Music
by Sara47Q
Summary: Steve comforts Darcy after a bad dream. Tony reflects on the baby. Darcy/Tony/Steve Part 8 in the Crazy is the New Normal 'verse.
1. Bad Dreams

Darcy woke up in a cold sweat and sat up, hands on her belly, rubbing it to check that everything was normal. With a sigh, she laid back down and saw Steve looking at her in concern. They were the only two in bed. Tony must be up tinkering on his suit or something.

Steve loomed over her, worry clear in his voice. "What's wrong? Is it the baby?"

She patted his face reassuringly. "Indirectly. Just a nightmare."

"A nightmare about the baby?" He laid on his side and put his hand over hers where she was still rubbing her belly lightly.

"Yeah, it's stupid, go back to sleep."

He reached up to brush damp hair off of her forehead.

"It's not stupid. Maybe it will help to talk about it."

"It's silly, but ok. I dreamt I was out for a walk at night, in the desert, you know, where we found Thor? Only I was pregnant and I felt the baby kick, but it wasn't normal. There was like, a pop, and both of its feet had kicked through my belly! I was trying to push his legs back in and hold my hands over his feet so he couldn't kick back out, and I was walking, trying to find a hospital or something, but I was out in the middle of nowhere. Then I woke up. See, silly?"

Steve pulled her into his arms as much as her big belly would allow. "I have had the same fear."

"Of the baby kicking through my stomach? It's just a dumb pregnancy dream. A few nights ago I dreamt I gave birth to a puppy."

"All right, I haven't had THAT fear. What kind of puppy?"

She giggled. "Golden Retriever."

He laughed with her.

"What are you afraid of?" she asked when the giggles subsided.

"What if the baby has my super strength? I don't want it to hurt you."

"I didn't know you were worried about that."

"I didn't want you to worry, too."

She leaned up to kiss him. "Doc says the baby's healthy and normal. Only a couple of more weeks until he or she is here and then we'll wonder what we were worried about."

He rubbed soothing circles on the leg she had thrown over his. "I hope that is true. Try to get some more sleep."  
She was already half-way there, clinging to him like her own, personal teddy bear.


	2. Can't Sleep Without You

"Shit, baby, Mama needs to sleep." Darcy'd been tossing and turning for over an hour. She never slept well in Tony's monster bed alone and she couldn't find a position that was comfortable. She'd stolen Steve's pillow to wedge between her knees and was using Tony's, just because she wanted to smell him. But her little superhero-in-training would not cooperate and let her go off to dream-land.

"Fuck it." She threw off the covers and took Steve's pillow with her up to Tony's lab. Steve would never miss it, he was off on some super secret mission with Barton.

She opened the door to loud AC/DC and went over to a comfy chair, wiggling and wedging the pillow around until she was comfortable. Once she was situated, she looked over at Tony who was staring at her.

"I know I look ridiculous."

"What was wrong with the bed downstairs?"

"Too lonely. Too quiet. Baby won't leave me alone."

He looked pained. "Should I turn the music down?"  
She closed her eyes, thinking "he must really like me."

"Nah. The baby likes it. She's already quieting down." He went back to what he was doing.

"He has good taste. Takes after me."

He watched her sleep, reminded of the night over a year ago when she'd come up to the Penthouse, carrying her pillow and a small bag asking if she could sleep there again. He'd been amused by Darcy and Steve had liked having her around. Who could have guessed that they'd end up here? That _he'd_ end up here? If you'd told him 5 years ago that he'd eventually be in a committed relationship with one of his childhood heroes and a 23 year old girl, expecting a baby and saving the world on a regular basis, he would have laughed and asked you to share your drugs because it must be the good stuff.

He never thought he'd want to be a father. His own father had been dead twenty years before he'd found out he even _liked _him. He'd played it cool when the sticks turned blue, Darcy was freaking out enough for everyone and he was used to hiding how he really felt about things. Steve's excitement had rubbed off on everyone and even though they hadn't planned on having a baby, well, ever, there was a definite sense of anticipation as the time grew closer for the baby to arrive.

Motioning for Dummy to move some of the parts on the table, he remembered a couple of months ago when they'd decided to do a DNA test on Darcy's blood and see who the father of the baby was. It was easy with no harm to Darcy or the baby and seemed like a good idea at the time. Until they'd gotten the results. They'd only tested Tony's blood against Darcy's, both the regular humans, can't risk anyone seeing something strange in Steve's sample. So Tony knew it was just going to be a straight yes or no for him. Like an episode of Maury, it would've been "You are (or are not!) the father!"

He'd been working on some new arrows Barton wanted when Steve and Darcy had rushed in with the results in an envelope. They'd sat it on one of the worktables and just stared at it for awhile.

Finally, Darcy said, "I don't want to open it."

Steve had added, "The results don't really matter to me. I will love the baby either way."

Tony knew it shouldn't matter to him either, but he was really hoping the baby was his. Seeing the looks on their faces though, he knew he didn't want to disappoint them with his own doubts about he could love the baby as much if it was Steve's. He hated disappointing them in a way he'd never worried about with anyone else, even Pepper, before. They made him want to be better than he was.

He also wasn't sure if it would become a problem for the baby's inheritance if it wasn't his. He hadn't told Darcy or Steve but he'd had Pepper draw up a new will naming the baby as his heir if anything happened to him, with Steve and Darcy as executors. Pepper had been comedically horrified to learn that she had been his heir before, but who else did he have? For the longest time it had been Tony and Pepper against the world. Now he'd made room in his little world for two more- soon to be three. So he made his decision.

"Well, there's only one thing to do then."

"What's that?" Darcy asked, eyes narrowed and arms folded over her belly.

"Burn the damn thing," and before he could change his mind, he'd grabbed a mini-blow torch and set it on fire. It burned quickly and before he had moved out of the way, Dummy had doused him and the table with the fire extinguisher he thought he'd hidden pretty well.

"Goddamn it! That's it! It's the scrap heap for you, buddy."

Darcy had to sit down, she was laughing so hard and Steve definitely cracked a smile. "He was only looking out for you, Tony."

That had ended with a very nice shower in which Darcy and Steve worked diligently to make sure he was free of all the fire extinguisher dust. That experience alone is what saved Dummy from the scrap heap.

And now here he was, only a couple of weeks away from the baby's birth completely at ease with someone sleeping in his lab. And he was almost sure he would be fine with the baby being Steve's. At least it had good taste in music.


End file.
